The Young Communist League of Britain sends revolutionary greetings to the young workers and students of Britain and the world, our members, allies, and supporters in 2025.
This year is marked by the deepening of the capitalist crisis for young and working people, both in Britain and abroad. The genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine rage on, fuelled by NATO’s imperialist agenda and British complicity in pursuit of profits, markets, and resource dominance. At home, increasing youth unemployment and the so-called “cost of living” crisis continue to push many young workers and students into poverty. We are reminded that this is not a “cost of living” crisis, but a “cost of profits” crisis—a symptom of the capitalist system’s inherent contradictions.
In the face of these challenges, the YCL has continued to struggle against capitalism and its catastrophic impact on the working class, demonstrating what the working class is capable of if we are united together in the class struggle against capitalism.
As we reflect on both the challenges and the successes of the past year, let us redouble our commitment to fighting for peace, jobs and socialism in the lead up to our 52nd Congress. Together, we can grow stronger, more determined, and more united in our efforts to win new battles for young and working people.
In 2024, our Industrial Commission, working in partnership with the Communist Party, is developing and solidifying its strategy in recruiting, organising, and educating young workers, providing ample support to our members who are active in the trade union movement. Increasingly, our members are becoming reps, officers and organisers in the labour movement, garnering recognition, and respect for the work that we do in our workplaces and communities. Many members have also participated in regional and national conferences, distributing copies of the Morning Star, contributing to political debate, and raising the political consciousness of trade union members.
Our student members were key in the student encampments for Palestine over the summer, camping on university grounds to demand the end of universities’ complicity in the genocide in Gaza. YCL members steered political action and discussion to expose students and wider communities to the brutality of imperialism meanwhile targeting the university bosses who profit from it. Encampments were vibrant with education, community organising and solidarity, offering many young people their first chance at political action and unity.
In April, we hosted a resounding Harry Pollitt School, marked by the wider labour and progressive movement’s attraction to it. This demonstrated the League’s reach and recognition in the broad left movement, cultivated by the hard work and widely felt contribution that the YCL is making to building the class struggle in Britain. Members, allies, and supporters had the opportunity to learn, discuss and put into action many ideological and practical topics delivered by a variety of excellent speakers. I left the school with a renewed resolve to build the case for socialism in my workplace, community, and campus, as I am sure everyone else did.
On the cultural front, we sent delegations to festivals in Britain and abroad, including Glastonbury, Durham Miners’ Gala, and Odigitis, plus members attended and participated in James Connolly Festival, La Fête de l’Humanité and Avante as well as many more festivals. As communists, we understand the vital importance of art, literature, music, and other cultural forms in promoting socialism and the class struggle. At these events, members created, maintained, and strengthened our ties with our sister organisations, allies, and supporters around the world in the fight for socialism.
The actions of the Labour government remind us of the need for socialism to truly advance the struggle for the working class. The new Employment Rights Bill represents scraps from the table which do little to undo the damage of decades of attacks on our trade unions. The fact that neither this nor the previous Labour governments have shown any interest in reversing the onslaught on our labour rights during the Thatcher period also exposes the tacit complicity of both wings of British capitalism and the urgent need for Britain’s young workers to resist. Concessions to the working class must be fought for and won to alleviate the poverty that over twenty million people in Britain face, nearly of a third of whom are children, whilst calling for the overthrow of capitalism.
In the year that the newly elected Labour government voted to maintain the child benefit cap, scrap the winter fuel allowance, and maintain and impose austerity, it is clear which side of the struggle this Labour government is on. Increasingly, young and working people will be impoverished by these policies if they have not been already. Whilst many might despair, this is an opportunity to build the united front against monopoly capitalism, austerity, and war, as workers become disillusioned with the Labour Party. Young communists are recruiting, organising, and educating young workers to join their trade unions and community unions to challenge exploitation, which is a crucial activity in building the united front that we must continue to develop in the new year.
Young communists continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and oppose the escalation of conflict in the Middle East by imperialist forces. We call for the British government to recognise the independent State of Palestine, and the right to return to end the oppression and occupation of the Palestinian people. It is our internationalist duty to oppose the British State’s critical role in arming, funding and defending Israel’s genocide of Gaza and conflict in the Middle East. We are united together with the Palestinian people and our sister organisations in the fight against imperialism, capitalism, and war. Together we can build a future where people, not profits, are put first. The YCL renews its commitments to international solidarity in the new year and reaffirms our ties with sister organisations to cooperate on joint solidarity work.
As we approach the 52nd Congress, the obstacles that we must overcome are immense but so too will be our victories. Congress is a time to make deep reflections on our glorious League, analysing what we have done so far and what our priorities for the next two years will be. Serious strategic planning is a necessary part of this period, and I implore all members, branches, districts, and nations to engage with and contribute to the pre-Congress period. This will give us the direction upon which we can win for the working class and advance the case for socialism in Britain, whether that is through organising in our workplaces, communities, or campuses, developing our international solidarity activity, or through other means. Let us enter next Congress with renewed energy and wins to shape the future we want to create.
For over a century, the YCL has united young workers and students in fighting imperialism, capitalism, and war. From fighting fascism in the 1930s to supporting the miners’ strikes in the 1980s, the YCL, as the youth wing of the vanguard party, has always promoted revolutionary politics and solidarity as we build the class struggle. Today, our place in the movement is as vital as it has ever been to oppose capitalism’s strangulation of young and working people. This year, we have supported picket lines, campaigned for public ownership, led protests against genocide, imperialism, and war, and organised women’s liberation events. We are the fighting force of young students and workers; therefore, it is our duty to recruit, organise and educate the next generation of communists. Together, we will build a League that is capable of meeting the ruling class head on, not just for the working class in Britain, but for our brothers and sisters abroad too.
To all members of our glorious League, I wish you a happy, successful, and revolutionary 2025. Let us march into the new year with renewed determination, dedication, and commitment to fight for and win a better future for young people.
The future belongs to those who dare to fight for it.
So, comrades, conquer your future.
For Peace, Jobs, and Socialism in our Lifetime!
Georgina Andrews, General Secretary
Young Communist League
1 January 2025
London, Britain
